Shadow's Gem
by Winged Lady Colette
Summary: Strange circumstance brings Maria back to Shadow. And even stranger circumstances are trying to take her away again. But this time, Shadow's not going to run away, he's going to face it head on. They will be together, or die trying. Main: ShadowxMaria Side: SonicxAmy, KnucklesxRouge. Etc.
1. Infiltration

**Author's note: I have always wanted to write a Sonic story. I am a huge ShadowxMaria fangirl and just never got around to writing it until I got the powerful inkling to do it today. Let me know what you think. Enjoy! Remember this is rated M for a reason!**

**Warnings: Nudity**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

**Word Count: 2,999**

He spent a lot of time thinking about her. Especially when he got his memory back. Shadow lowers himself beneath the weeping willow, making him feel a little less sad. Well, it wasn't just plain sadness, it's more nostalgic sadness. He presses his back into the rough bark and closes his eyes. He can hear Rouge walking about nearby, on her phone yelling at someone.

Shadow thinks he heard a distinct, "I'm serious, Knuckles!"

Shadow folds his arms over his chest and leans back a bit more. It's wonderful to have memories, Shadow felt like half a hedgehog without them. Especially the memories of Maria. They hurt a lot to think about, but he felt a bit empty without that pain, without being able to recall her beautiful golden blond hair and big sapphire eyes. The way her smile crinkles the corners of her eyes and her nose. The way she laughs softly as if being too loud would bring about the wrath of angry scientists. The way she would always race Shadow, even knowing that he was so much faster then her, but then claiming to let him win when he did.

But most of all, he misses when, at the end of the day, she would crawl into bed and hold him tightly in her arms.

Those were the moments that made Shadow feel the most alive. At the end of the day, curled up in a warm bed with Maria's arms wrapped tightly around him, her head buried in his fur, occasionally stroking his back with her gentle fingers. She would sleep soundly, breathing deeply with a look of complete innocence and childishness. It was hard to believe that she was 10 years old. Still a child in human terms, but younger looking asleep then when she's awake.

Shadow would snuggle close to her warmth and listen to her deep breathing. Because her immune system was so bad, Maria would get the horrible chills at night. She would get as close to Shadow as possible and try and absorb his warmth.

She would tremble in the night and he would pull the covers over her shoulders and rub her skin, on her arms, legs, stomach, anything to create friction and keep her warm at nights.

Nothing kept them apart for long. Also because of her immune system, Maria would be in the labs, sick. When he could, Shadow would be by her side, holding her hand and listening to her raspy breaths or wheezing breaths. Holding her hand as she shivers uncontrollably even covered in multiple heating blankets or dabbing her forehead with a wash cloth trying to cool down her body when she sweats buckets, suffering from a high fever.

But then there were times when she was so weak, she couldn't have anyone not properly sterilized at all times in the room with her, he would sit in the observation room, looking in at her. She would be bed ridden next to the glass and they would touch through the barrier between them, looking at one another. Maria would look so frail and delicate but so incredibly beautiful to Shadow.

Shadow blinks slowly from his reverie to find himself smiling softly. It drops the moment he realizes it's there. There is a subtle pulsing pain in his chest when he thinks about Maria. Not all of the memories are back just yet, but there is enough for him to know what went on at the Space Colony ARK. How he met Maria, how she died, and how he felt about her even to this day.

His crimson eyes raise up to watch Rouge pacing back and forth. He would never admit it, but Rouge is probably the closest Shadow has had to a friend since Maria's death. No one would ever be able to replace Maria in Shadow's heart but Rouge was always good company and they understood each other. They wouldn't butt into the other's business unless directly asked.

"Is this serious, Knuckles?" Rouge asks, still talking into the phone to the red echidna. Her brows are pulled together in worry.

Shadow's left ear twitches.

"Are you sure? Okay, fine. I'll come help but if this isn't as serious as you are making it out to be, so help me." She shakes her head. "Send me the location. I'll be there ASAP."

With that she hung up her phone and turned to look at Shadow. The two stare at one another for a long time before she sighs and looks away. "Looks like Knuckles is going to need a little bit of help." Shadow doesn't speak, merely waits for her to continue. She does. "He's looking for some scientist that is working on some old project from a long time ago or something. Says that the guy has been really sketchy lately. His experiments seemed harmless at first, until he started to kidnap people."

Shadow raises an eyebrow. "Do you need help?"

Rouge shrugs. "Probably not. It's going to be Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy. They want a fifth member who can actually fly. Not hover like Tails or sail like Knuckles. I can't begin to imagine why they're letting Amy come along, I bet Sonic is upset about that." She shrugs. Then she crosses her arms to push up her endowed chest a bit out of natural habit rather than flirtation.

Shadow jingles his legs a bit. "Fine."

Rouge nods, more to herself than to Shadow, and turns away. "Keep your phone on you. I'll call if I need any help. Later, Shadow."

Shadow quietly watches her leaving. After she's out of sight, he closes his eyes again, ears twitching. He listens to the sound of rustling leaves, birds chirping the wind blowing. It's a nice warm day. Shadow really needs the shade of the willow to stop from roasting alive in the unforgiving sun.

Rouge makes it to the location specified by Knuckles after about three or four hours of flying. She's the second to arrive. Naturally the first is Sonic. He's laying on his belly looking down at a large compound at the bottom of the large hill their meeting spot takes place. There is an eight foot wall with barbed wire running along the top. Enough Keep Out signs to get the point across and what almost appeared to be a guard tower on all four corners of the building. And the guards had these shiny little objects in their hands that Rouge immediate knew were guns.

The building in the center was relatively large and looked almost like a prison. It looked to be about three stories, but there could be more lower levels. At the north facing side there appeared to be a parking garage that lead out of large gates and onto the main road. Then a short walk into the main structure. There was also a helicopter pad on the opposite side of the compound then the parking garage.

Rouge looks down to see Sonic staring up at her.

"They're going to see you like that, I hope you know," he says, turning to look back at the mini fortress beneath them.

She lowers herself to mimic Sonic. "Did Knuckles tell you I was coming?"

Sonic nods. "Yeah. He said we would need someone to get in through the roof."

Rouge raises an eyebrow. "Okay, so who's going where?"

"You take the roof, work your way down. Knuckles will dig under ground and hit the lowest level and hopefully burrow through and into the building that way, which I'm a bit skeptic about," Sonic says honestly. "Amy and Tails are going to go in through the main floor and split. Amy going down towards Knuckles and Tails going up to meet with you."

Rouge nods. "And you?"

Sonic smiles broadly. "Distraction. I'm going to take out the guards up top and hopefully stop any possible reinforcements."

Rouge whistles. "Are you sure you will need me? I mean this isn't the most complex facility that your self appointed band of do-gooders has ever broke and entered, if you know what I mean?

Sonic's smile disappears. "Yeah, but this one... we expect a lot of prisoners. Plus they have substantial military and political backing."

"What's this doctor researching anyway? I asked Knuckles but he didn't have a lot of information to offer."

Sonic shakes his head. "Not really sure. Tails is the one that found out about this place. All we know is that this group has been kidnapping young women left and right. Took Tails forever to put the data together. They usually got for run-aways and prostitutes. People someone wouldn't notice going missing."

Rouge grins slyly. "A friend of his going missing? One of those special friends that help you out in special circumstances?"

Sonic blinks rapidly, shaking his head. "No! You've got it wrong! They slipped up and took a girl that was of higher social standing. Someone in the media was the one that put it together. That maybe the other mysterious disappearances could somehow be related. Tails investigated from there. That's how we know."

Rouge chuckles dryly. "Oh good, I thought our innocent friend Tails may of had a little confession to make."

Sonic lets out a loud whoosh of air. "Good grief."

The two sit in silence for a long while as they wait for the others to show up. Knuckles is the next to show, then finally Tails and Amy on another of Tail's flying machines, like the Tornado. Naturally they park it far enough away that it'll be hidden and no one would hear or see it coming. Amy caught Sonic in a big ol' bear hug before he could escape and kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm so glad that we got to do this together, eh Sonic? Us, fighting crime once again as a super powerful, unstoppable couple in love!" She gushes. Sonic struggles out of her grip.

"What? No! Uh, can we just do this?"

Knuckles chuckles, nodding. "One thing before we start: Why do you want to come along, Amy?"

The pink hedgehog, who was pouting about being rejected by her love once more, turns to Knuckles. "I just can't sit around while poor innocent girls are being abducted and held captured being forced to do who knows what! It's immoral."

Rouge nods. "I wouldn't necessarily call all of them 'innocent'," she starts but holds up her hands to show she means no harm when the pink hedgehog glares at her, "_but _that doesn't mean they should have to endure whatever form of torture they're being put through down there." Amy nods, glare falling into a worried look. She holds her white gloved hands to her chest.

"I hope everyone is okay," she says softly.

Sonic nods, slamming his fist into his palm on the other hand. "Yeah! Now, let's get this party started. Everyone ready?"

They all nod. Tails the hands out ear pieces to help them keep in contact. Sonic then turns to the mini fortress and darts towards it, disappearing in a flash of a blue blur. He's scaled the wall of one of the towers and is already taking care of one of the many guards.

"That's our cue," Knuckles says, then jumps up and hits the ground digging a hole beneath the surface and vanishing into the darkness.

Rouge, Tails and Amy, hammer in hand, make their way towards the wall. Rouge and Tails fly over while Amy uses her hammer to hit the ground and propel herself into the air and over the wall.

"Oh no!" Amy cries, grabbing the back of her dress where there was a little tare. "Shoot, my dress!"

"Later, Amy! We have a base to liberate," Tails says grabbing her hand and pulling her toward the main structure. Rouge flies ahead toward the roof kicking one of the guards in the face and then knocking him off the building.

Amy and Tails make it in easy, knocking out anyone who gets in their way. They don't like to kill, they will if they must, but now wasn't the time or the place. They split up with a single nod. Amy continued down to the lower levels.

Over the radio, Amy heard Knuckles voice, "Shit! I can't burrow through it. I thought I would be able to, but they got some durable stuff down here."

"I could of told you that, Knucklehead," Sonic says sardonically.

"Shut up Sonic. Amy, how are you doing?" Knuckles asks.

"Fine," Amy says slamming a guard into the wall with her hammer, kicking his gun away from him should he wake back up soon. "Just follow the trail of unconscious bad guys and you'll find me easy!" She grins. "There is only one floor below ground."

"Got it. I'll be there soon."

"Hey, I found some of the prisoners," Rouge says. "And um, does anyone know what these girls all have in common other then the fact that they are all teenagers?"

Tails is the first to respond. "They are all white with blond hair and blue eyes?"

"Yeah," Rouge says, "How'd you know?"

"Because I found a bunch too."

Sonic makes a strange noise. "Okay, weird. We need to clear out this place to make it safe," a pause, someone screaming. It stops. "Then get them out of here."

"Right," came a chorus of replies.

Amy walks down one of the many halls, the entire thing a sterile white; walls floors rooms. Amy opens the nearest door and almost drops her hammer in horror. This room is rather large with the walls lined with medical and surgical equipment. In the center of the room is a giant horizontal pod of sorts. As Amy moves closer, she can see there is a girl inside.

Like the others, she's got long blond hair and if Amy had to guess, she would probably have blue eyes too. But what horrified her more then the fact that she was probably being experiment on, post-attack, but that the young girl was stark naked for the world to oogle at. Amy, a regular fashion loving, girly girl, can't even begin to fathom how someone could be degraded like this.

Anger swells in her chest and she has to turn away. "Tails, there's a girl on the bottom floor. She's in some kind of pod. I don't... I don't know how to get her out." Amy says tersely, anger evident in her voice.

"Uh, okay. I'll come help, make sure that floor is cleared in the meantime."

The clean-up of the base took about a half hour, it really sped up when Sonic entered the building and blind sided all of the remaining guards with his immense speed. Rouge and Knuckles both agreed to tie up all the personnel and guards outside, calling for assistance.

Tails found Amy in the room she specified the young woman being held captive. She was pacing back in forth angrily, hammer in hand, ready to smash the next thing to get in her way. Tails walks closer to the center of the room where in a pod with a large see through window along the front is the young girl that Amy told him about but there was three or four white lab coats placed over the top, hiding the girl inside.

"What's with the coats, Amy?" Tails asks, immediately regretting it when Amy turned a fierce emerald glare on him.

"Does it matter?" she asks darkly.

Tails's tails literally drop like dead weight on the floor. "N-No, sorry Amy."

Amy, suddenly feeling really bad, sighs. "No, I'm sorry Tails. It's just that... this poor girl isn't exactly... clothed."

At first Tails didn't appear to of understood her, then he did and his face grew a bright red and he twisted away from the pod completely. Almost like he had suddenly gained the ability to see through the metal and glass and cloth to the naked girl beneath. He stutter unintellectual babble trying to busy himself.

Amy turns away from her friend, still feeling bad for back talking him. "S-Sorry. Um, Sonic, are you getting those girls out?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Are they..." Amy hesitates.

"Are they what?"

"...dressed?" Amy chews on her bottom lip.

There is a pause. "Yeah, why?"

"N-No reason."

Another pause. "Is there something I should know?"

Amy glances over at Tails, who is working at the top part of the pod where there is a control panel. His stammering has stopped and now he looks focused. She turns away. "It's just... one of the girls... the one I spoke of earlier... isn't exactly wearing anything."

There is a long pause, longer then the last two. Then, "_What?_" Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge all yell at once. Tails yelps, jumping into the air at the sudden yell in his ear. The pod sparks and then opens.

**"Warning. Warning. Unauthorized awakening of Subject 1," **A robotic female voice says. Her voice echoing through the entire building. **"Repeat: Unauthorized awakening of Subject 1. Unsanctioned release of NIDS. Take mandatory precaution. Prolonged expose could be detrimental or even deadly."**

Amy and Tails both jump away from the pod as it pops open, like there was suctioned cups holding the glass to the metal. Cold vaper escapes the pod. Almost like it was frozen inside. A single shock went through the bottom half of the pod, jolting the girl and starting her heart.


	2. Maria

**Author's note: Hm, the story is starting to gain a leg or two. I wonder what I'm going to do with this. Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

**Warnings: None**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.**

**Word Count: 2,770**

Maria feels cold and heavy. Her entire body is like a block of ice. These warm waves wash over her. Then slowly but surely, a tingling sensation overcomes her limbs. Starting with her fingers and toes, then her entire hands and feet until her entire body is tingling, like she's slept wrong on her entire body. She's never had her stomach and chest tingle like this before. But she is still unbelievably cold.

"Here," a voice says softly, laying something over Maria. But Maria can't feel it. She feels numb. She tries to move her fingers but it's a lot harder then she remembers. Wait, remember? Maria's brain is so befuddled she can't even recall much. Her name comes to her from a far away place but she isn't able to discern exactly what it is. It's just jumbled up words and letters.

Maria's vision fills with bright pink and she blinks rapidly trying to understand what she sees.

"Can you sit up?" a soft voice asks. It's definitely a girl's voice. Perhaps the pink that Maria sees.

Shakily, Maria forces herself to sit up, her body weak and tired and cold. She blinks her vision clear and the pink takes shape other than the strange pink mass. The first thing Maria notices is big green eyes. Definitely larger then her own. And then she noticed that the girl's hair is pink and then that it's not hair. And then she noticed that this wasn't a normal girl in a pretty red dress. This girl was a hedgehog. And her pink "hair" is actually pressed down quills. They go to her shoulders like hair.

Two triangle ears sat atop her head with a red headband. They both twitch toward Maria.

"Are you okay?"

Maria, mouth dry like cotton, nods solemnly. She tries to swallow but it scratches her throat and makes her uncomfortable. Her arms tremble trying to support her weight. There is a burning sensation along her limbs from the mere movement alone. As her limbs begin to wake up, the prickling definitely starts to ebb away.

"I'm Amy," the pink hedgehog says.

Maria opens her mouth but only a strange horse noise escapes. Her jaws clamp closed. A sweet smile passes over Amy's face.

"It's okay, don't speak. I don't know what those bad guys were doing to you but don't worry. It's all over now, okay?" Amy blinks slowly, sincerity in her voice. Maria couldn't really understand what she's saying. Bad guys? Doing to her? What was over? Even though her body is adjusting-albeit slowly- to being awake again, her mind is still behind.

Amy proceeds to help her put a white lab coat on her shoulders, now Maria is aware of the chill in the air, and buttoned up the front to hide her body behind it. Bumps dance across her flesh, making her shiver. The young blond girl jingles her legs, trying to wake them up. After a few minutes, Amy helps her up but it's a little weird considering that the pink hedgehog was under half her height, but they managed.

Maria couldn't stand all that well. She lowers her self, or flops down gracelessly, whatever, on the cold floor. Her skin chilling at the touch alone and Maria shivers again.

"Hi there." Maria looks up to see an upright animal, all yellow with a white stomach and shoes on, with two large fox tails. "I'm Miles. Everyone calls me Tails."

Maria smiles at his light, airy voice. It's gentle and soft like a warm breeze. It's nice. She smiles lightly and nods, bringing a hand up slowly and curl her fingers slightly in a little wave.

"Do you know how you got here?" Amy asks.

Maria pauses, trying to recall the last thing she remembers. A hall, she was... running down a hall. All of the walls were white and the floor was smooth, plain and hard beneath the soles of her shoes. She trips and falls, scrapes her knee, but she's too excited. She climbs to her feet and keeps going. She almost knocks over a bunch of people. At least two or three. Some call out to her, but Maria can't remember what they said, or even if she heard them.

She stops in front of a door, there's a plaque on the right side. There's a name branded in gold and glued to a block of wood. Maria doesn't read it, she's read it so many times. She pushes a blue button beneath it. The door opens up with a hiss and she goes inside. Maria runs up to the huge observation window directly across from the door. She puts her hand on the thick oak of the desk next to her as she stares down in wonder at the gathered scientists, all standing around in the room below her. And the small thing that lays prone on the table in the center of the room.

It's too tiny for her to tell exactly what it is, but she can tell that it's a tiny black mass. One of the scientists, glances up at her and smiles faintly. He reaches out and touches another man's shoulder. No, that's her grandpa. Maria can't think of his name. Her grandpa looks up at her and waves her down.

Maria turns to the left, a glass door separates her grandpa's office and the stairs leading down to the lab. She rushes down the steel stairs and works her way through the thong of gathered scientists. Making her way closer and closer to the table and her grandpa.

The blond haired girl blinks slowly as the memory fades. Nothing in that memory tells her where she is or how she got here. A quick glance around the room shows her it's not the lab that her grandpa owned or worked in. She has no idea where she is.

She shakes her head slowly.

"It's okay," Tails says. "The police are on their way, you'll be home soon."

"Um, hello?" Maria hears a voice behind Tails and Amy. "Did you two miss the part about the NIDS?"

Amy rolls her eyes. "Oh Rouge," she turns slightly, looking over her shoulder at the white bat. "You can't get NIDS from physical contact."

Rouge leans heavily on one hip, shaking her head. Sonic rounds the corner and walks into the room. He pauses to look at Rouge. "We met a girl with NIDS before. She became a friend of ours."

The white bat looks away, shaking her head. "If you wanna sign your death warrant, don't let me stop you." With that she turns and makes her way back outside to help Knuckles evacuate the girls.

Tails smiles softly at Maria, reaching out to touch her shoulder. "I'm going to go. I'm glad you're alright." He stands and heads over to Sonic, "I'm going to go help out Knuckles and Rouge, okay?"

Sonic nods. "Sure thing, thanks Tails." He turns to Amy and the figure sitting in front of her. He can see the lab coat wrapped around her, held together by her hand gripping the two sides. He moves to stand by Amy's side, keeping his eyes on her face, also noting that like all of the other girls, she has long blond hair and big blue eyes. But the base wide warning called her Subject One. Not just anyone gets that sort of title. Among the captured personnel and guards, the doctor wasn't one of them, which means he's still out there.

"Don't worry," Sonic says, kneeling down in front of the girl. "We'll find the people who did this to you, I promise." He smiles and gives her a thumbs up. Amy smiles a bit and steps away to give Sonic some room.

Maria blinks very slowly, trying to focus on the blue hedgehog but she keeps seeing red streaks on his quills. They are so familiar to Maria. But then they fade away. Except the one on his forehead. Maria reaches out, her hand shaking slightly and touches the streak on the top of his head. Sonic raises an eyebrow at the feathery light touch.

"Uh?"

Maria blinks again and the streak, like all the others, is gone. She jerks her hand away, light pink dusting her pale cheeks. "I'm sorry," she croaks, then clears her throat flinching in pain.

"Don't... worry about it," Sonic says, his hand reaches up to touch the top of his head. "I'm Sonic, by the way."

Maria opens her mouth and croaks, once more, "Maria."

Sonic smiles lightly. "Maria, that's a pretty name. So, Maria, can you tell us anything about what happened here?"

Maria shakes her head. "I... don't even know where... here is." She clears her throat, flinching slightly. Her hand comes up and touches her throat.

Amy looks around. "I'm going to go see if I can get my hands on some water, alright, Maria?" The small blond nods gratefully. Amy hustles out of the room. Sonic and Maria sit in silence, looking around the room at anything but each other. Maria keeps thinking back to those streaks of red. A blue hedgehog with red streaks on the quills? Had she seen someone like that before?

No, the quills and fur were darker. A dark blue? No, darker. Black. Black fur and quills with red streaks. And the eyes? Maria's brain hurts. She reaches up and rubs her temples, trying to clear out the foggy vision in her head.

"Are you okay, Maria?" Sonic asks.

"A hedgehog," Maria says, rubbing her temples harder, eyes squeezing shut. "A hedgehog with black fur."

Sonic blinks. "You mean Shadow?"

_"Come meet your new friend, Maria. Come meet Shadow."_

A small bundle on a large linoleum table. A small black mass with red streaks. It's a hedgehog. Maria can see it vividly in her mind's eye. She had to be lifted, she was too short. She reached out and touched the small red streak on the top of his little head.

"Shadow..." Maria whispers, eyes falling half lidded. "My Shadow... do you know him?"

Sonic looks perplexed. "I do. How do you know him? I thought Shadow didn't like people all that much."

Now Maria looks confused. "I've known Shadow... ever since he was born. Grandpa made him for me... to be my best friend." Maria smiles lightly at the memory of the tiny bundle, small and delicate. He was her best friend. Her only friend, really. And she loved him very much. Just the thought of him is enough to bring a smile to her face.

"Wait," Sonic says, shifting closer to look at the blond haired girl, as if he's suddenly seeing her in a new life. "You knew Shadow when he was born?" Maria nods, dazedly. Her stare is far away and glazed, still stuck in the memory. "Oh boy, what was this wacko doing?" Sonic mumbles to himself, lowering his gaze to the stark white floor. "I pity the fool who has to encure Shadow's wrath. Especially if you're _that _Maria."

"Sorry, Maria," Amy says, walking into the room. Her sole focus is on the small dixie cup filled to the rim with water. "Will this little cup do?"

Maria nods slowly. Accepting the small cup and draining the contents in moments. The cool water felt heavenly against her dry throat. "Thank you, Amy."

"Yeah," Amy beams, then notices the hard look on Sonic's face. "What's wrong, Sonic?"

The blue hedgehog climbs to his feet. "Look after her, Amy. I got to go make sure everyone is okay. Keep her here."

"Okay, but why?" Sonic doesn't respond, just makes his way to the door. Amy shoots a quick glance at the blond haired girl, her eyes half lidded, lips parted in a silent yawn. She runs over to Sonic to catch him before he leaves the room. "Sonic, what happened? What's wrong?"

Sonic pauses, considering. "I need to think about some stuff. That doctor had to be studying the NIDS, using Maria. But that doesn't explain why he kidnapped all of those girls that look like Maria." With that Sonic turns and continues on his way out the door and down the hall. Amy pauses for a long time, looking after where the blue hedgehog went.

When she finally turned back to Maria, the girl is curled up on the floor, sleeping. Amy crosses her arms over her small chest and walks back over to the slumbering form. She lowers herself next to Maria and gazes around the room, shuttering when her eyes land on bags filled with blood inside of a mini fridge. Amy's attention snaps back to the slumbering girl.

"I don't know what's going on, but don't you worry, Maria. Sonic will look after you. He's a real good hedgehog, trust me," she smiles and reaches out with a white gloved hand to pet down the flat blond locks. "Everything will be okay."

Maria shifts slightly, eyes moving behind closed eyelids.

Sonic looks out one of the many windows in the lobby to see all the girls, huddled in groups as officers are loading them into the back of police cars and ambulance vehicles. Now there are some police guarding the personnel and guards. Sonic crosses his arms over his chest and taps his foot irritably. Why is it that the bad guys always got to be so complex? Why does there got to be bad guys at all?

Admittedly Sonic does enjoy the little bit of thrill that thwarting Doctor Eggman's many plans at world domination. He enjoys the thrill, the challenge, up until innocent people get caught in the crossfire. That just irks Sonic to no end afterward.

Sonic glances back at the elevator that leads down to the bottom floor. The floor that contains Amy and Subject One, Maria. This Maria that knows Shadow. Shadow, who would look off in the distance and whisper "Maria" under his breath. The same Shadow that can't open up to people because of the tragedy at the Space Colony ARK.

Something doesn't add up. Didn't Shadow's Maria die when the Colony exploded? In all reality, even if she didn't die in the initial explosion, the vaccum of space would have pulled her away, right? Unless she got to another escape pod... but still, she would be over fifty years old now, right? So, that girl looked like she was in her teens. Maybe 13-15 years old.

What is Sonic not seeing? Is it really wise to bring this up to Shadow? The two already have a very shaky relationship. There are multitudes of different ways this could blow up in the blue hedgehog's face should he make the wrong choices. Telling Shadow that Maria was here, only for it to not be the right Maria would do nothing wonderful for their relationship, while at the same time if by some miracle this _is _the girl that Shadow has been pinning over for as long as he's been reawakened, and he finds out that Sonic knew there was a chance she was the girl Shadow's been looking for. The repercussions could be... detrimental. And destructive. Both of which Sonic isn't looking forward too. He has to be very cautious.

And who best to figure out Shadow and the possible way he would react than the one that has been with him for the last few years? With his mind made up, Sonic straightens and heads out the door and toward the white bat standing between Knuckles and Tails.

The trio look up at him when he walks up.

"Where's Amy?" Knuckles asks.

Sonic looks at the red echidna. "She's looking after our friend in the basement." He looks over at Rouge and crosses his arms once more. "You and I need to talk."

"About?" Rouge mimics him, crossing her arms, eyebrow raised.

"About Shadow," Sonic says, staring into her eyes. "And that human girl from the ARK, Maria."


	3. Meet Shadow

**Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait! I've sort of stepped away from this story for a bit, and I apologize! I just want those that are still reading this story to know that I am still thinking about this story! I've just started watching Sonic X and it seems interesting enough and has renewed my interest in this story. But, this is the longest chapter for this story, thus for, so there's a plus there! Thanks for all the support thus far, let me know what you think and if I should continue! Enjoy!**

**Warnings: Nothing much, maybe a bit of language.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Word Count: 4,973**

Rouge raises an eyebrow slowly, tilting her head. Her large white ears atop her head twitch slightly at the words. She takes a long moment of studying Sonic, trying to read him closely as if he was a difficult problem that could be solved if she looked hard enough, but after some time of them just staring at each other, Rouge sighs and shrugs her shoulder.

"I'm not sure you understand who you are talking about. This is Shadow. He doesn't exactly like having heart-to-heart chats. I'm not sure I have anything to say about that, that you probably don't already know," Rouge says simply. Her arms cross over her voluptuous chest and she leans heavily onto her right hip. Her half lidded green eyes stare at him silently.

"Try me," Sonic finally says, crossing his arms over his chest too, tilting his head slightly.

Rouge shakes her eyes, looking around the open area, at the police and medical personnel walking around, getting statements and checking the girls out, trying to get an idea on everything that was going on. She shakes her head and looks back over at Sonic.

"Okay, I know that he was born on the ARK to be friends or something with this human girl, and he lived there with her until the ARK was destroyed and the girl died. The only one who survived, supposedly, was Shadow. To be honest, I think he was suppose to be some kind of experiment too, to heal whatever was wrong with that girl, Maria, but she didn't survive long enough for them to get anywhere, but I don't know," Rouge shrugs her shoulders again. "I didn't hear most of this from the source, it's mostly what I've picked up over the years, knowing Shadow. But since the two of us often shared our secrets together after our long walks on the beach, I'm surprised he didn't bring this up."

Sonic sighs, narrowing his eyes slightly, looking down at the ground. He kicks the ground in his red shoe, digging his toe into the loose dirt and patchy grass. He unfolds his arms and rubs the back of his head. "Okay, I got it. I just figured since you've been around him more than most you would have picked up on something."

Rouge shakes her head. "Sorry, Blue, but Shadow and I have an understanding in that; so long as we stay out of each other's personal lives unless invited in by the other, we'll be fine. What I told you is what I know. Sorry."

"That's it, huh?" Sonic mumbles, looking back up at Rouge.

She nods. "Sorry," she says again. "Was there... something in specific that you wanted to know?"

Sonic doesn't respond, lifting his head to look up at the clear blue sky. He watches the clouds move slowly across the vast open blueness.

"Sonic?" Tails asks, sharing a look with Knuckles. The latter of the two, is leaning heavily on one hip, tilting his head left and right, eyes closed, as if he wasn't entirely listening.

"Yeah?" Sonic says, looking up and over to his best friend.

"Are you okay? Why are you asking about Shadow?" He asks, worried. Sonic shakes his head, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Never mind. Come on, let's make sure all these young ladies get out of here safely. Good catch with this, Tails." Sonic turns around, walking toward a detective, who was listening to a sobbing girl telling her story on how she ended up here.

"Come on," Knuckles says, dropping his arms and straightening his back. "Let's see if we can help out." Tails sighs, tails twitching a bit before he nods, following after the red echidna. Rouge watches them go, narrowing her eyes.

* * *

Amy hums quietly under her breath, gently running her hand through Maria's hair Her eyes are closed and she's trying to imagine that she is anywhere but in a cold lab surrounded by beakers and blood bags. Trying to imagine that there isn't the heavy smell of chemicals in her nose and that there wasn't a sleeping girl on her lap that, other than the white lab coat that she's holding together with a pale hand.

The pink hedgehog opens her eyes and looks around the room for anything that she could possibly use to help cover Maria. Nothing stands out to Amy. She just can't believe that anyone would condone a girl being undressed in a room strangers that can look at her at any given moment. It's such an intense invasion of Maria's privacy. And Amy just can't stand that. She just can't believe it.

Amy stops humming and stares down at the pale girl, her skin slightly translucent and unhealthy. She hasn't seen the light of day in a long time. Amy is worried about the girl. What are they going to do now? They can't just send her to a hospital, because if they find out that she has NIDS, then Maria is never going to see the light of day again. But then again, Maria would need someone constantly watching her, just to keep an eye on her health. Amy wouldn't mind it, if she knew how to properly take care of a sick person, but that wasn't really Amy.

She sighs, a long drawn out sigh. She really doesn't know what to do. She turns slightly to look at the empty doorway, silently wondering when Sonic is going to return. It's already been so long. After ten straight minutes of Amy staring at the doorway with no one coming and no word from Sonic, she turns her attention back to Maria, sighing softly.

"I hope everything is going to be okay," Amy murmurs. She reaches up with her free hand and runs her fingers through the soft pink quills on her head before dropping her hand back to her lap and closes her eyes once more, humming again.

* * *

Maria stands in front of a large glass-like window staring down at the beautiful, lush planet of Earth below. She folds her hands behind her back and sways her weight from one foot to the other, taking a moment to look at her reflection in the glass.

Her blue outfit is the first thing to catch her eye. Blue dress with puffed out short sleeves with a dark blue shirt under it. Her blue headband and blue slippers. All kinds of different shades of blue, but somehow it all fits together. The only real shade of different color was her blond hair and her pale skin. It goes to just past her shoulders, wavy and bright blond.

She runs her hands up and down her arms, trying to build friction and warm herself. The ARK is kept pretty cold, especially in outer space. She tugs the fabric of her long sleeve blue shirt down a bit, trying to cover more skin. She curls in on herself a bit more, using her core to warm her body as much as she can. Maria can tell, she is going to be sick again very soon. There are usual signs that Maria knows where to look for. The chills, the lack of appetite and the slight heaviness to her body and lightness of the head.

"Maria?"

The young blond preteen jumps. She turns slightly to see her small black and red hedgehog friend. The top of his head is just past her mid thigh. He steps closer to her, head tilted to the side, curiously. Short, black quills poking out of the back of his head. He steps up next to her and looks up at her with big, crimson eyes. Maria leans down to her knees, letting her dress pool around her to be closer to eye-level with her friend. The cold tile of the floors makes her shiver for a moment, sucking out more of her warmth.

"Shadow," Maria says softly, trying not to let her teeth chatter, "hello."

"Looking at the planet again?" Shadow asks, looking out the window at the world beyond.

Maria nods, pulling the small hedgehog to her chest. He doesn't try and pull away. In fact, if anything, he seems to relax in her arms. Though small, Shadow gives off a lot of heat and easily begins warming Maria up. She lays Shadow onto her lap and, with her arms around his body, rests his chin onto the red spot on the top of Shadow's head.

"I am. Isn't it pretty, Shadow? When I get all better, I'll be able to go there and see all of the beautiful and wonderful things that are there on Earth," Maria says, smiling brightly. Her body already starting to warm up with Shadow so near.

Shadow's crimson eyes, move minutely to look at Maria via her reflection. He smiles faintly. "Yeah... would..." he pauses, looking down at his lap for a moment, his gloved fingers twitching a bit, before looking at her again in her reflection. "Would I be able to come with, Maria? To Earth with you, I mean?"

Maria hugs him tightly, nuzzling into him. "Of course, silly! Shadow and Maria! Together forever!"

Shadow blushes, not complaining as she snuggles closer to his warmth, pulling him closer to her chest. He looks relaxed and content. They both do, sitting there, staring down at the world below, talking and laughing. Dreaming about where they will go and what they will do when they can finally go to the enigmatic world before them.

"Do you think they will be able to accept us?" Shadow finally asks, after a long silence of them just staring at the blue world below.

Maria nods, resting her chin on her friend's head. "Yes," she says confidently. "Why wouldn't they? I won't be sick anymore and you are just too great to not be loved, Shadow!"

Shadow smiles, a little relieved. "Good. So long as we get to stay together," he says, simply, "that's all that matters."

"Of course," Maria says, closing her eyes and burying her nose into the top of Shadow's head. She breaths in his scent. He bathed recently, leaving his fur smelling like berries. Maria loves the smell of Shadow's fur the days following his baths. Shadow tilts his head a bit to look up at Maria. A strange look on his face. Maria opens her eyes at the movement. "What?" she asks, catching him staring. "Is something wrong?"

Shadow tilts his head to the left as much as he can with it stretched up. "Are you feeling okay, Maria?"

Maria smiles. "I'm okay, now that my Shadow is here." She giggles. "But it is getting late, huh?" Her blue eyes wonder over to the clock on the wall that holds the standard time which they live on to see that yes, it was getting late indeed. She looks back down at Shadow. "Are you ready for bed?"

Shadow nods. Maria picks up the small hedgehog and stands, carrying him in her arms as she makes her way back to her room. She wishes goodnight to all of the scientist that she and Shadow meet along the way, only to stop once and talk to one scientist in particular.

"Goodnight, grandfather," Maria says, holding tightly onto Shadow.

"Doctor Robotnik," Shadow says, nodding his head once.

Gerald Robotnik looks up at them from the clipboard in his hands. One of his hands is up, slowly smoothing down the hairs of his mustache. He looks between the two for a moment, then smiles. "Shadow, Maria, hello. Off to bed, are we?"

Maria nods. "Will you be heading to bed soon, too, grandfather?"

Gerald hums a bit in affirmation. "Yes, I'm just looking through the data we just collected from Shadow's tests. After I'm done than I'll go to bed."

Maria and Shadow both tilt their heads to the side identically. "Do you want us to wait up?" They both ask, then look at each other and laugh. Gerald smiles at the two laughing children; one a human and the other a hedgehog.

Gerald shakes his head, dropping both his hands to his side. "Not at all, Maria. You head on to bed, you're looking a bit pale. How are you feeling?" He reaches out to rest his hand against her forehead.

Maria steps back from his hand, smiling kindly. "I'm okay, grandfather. Just tired. That's all. Please don't worry about me."

Gerald slowly pulls his hand back, giving her a knowing look, but doesn't comment. Instead, he turns his attention to the small hedgehog in Maria's arms. "You stay with Maria, okay, Shadow? Keep her warm tonight, yes?"

Shadow nods, looking determent. "Yes, Doctor Robotnik."

"You worry too much," Maria says sweetly, stepping closer to her grandfather. She goes up onto her tip-toes to kiss his cheek, being mindful not to squish Shadow between her and her grandfather's girth. Gerald smiles, pleased, kissing the top of her head and putting a comforting hand onto Shadow's head.

"Off to bed, now," Gerald says, slipping past them to head to his office.

Maria takes a moment to watch him go. She waits until he's into his office, the door hissing closed, before turning back around and heading for her room, Shadow still neatly tucked into her arms. She gets into her room, placing her friend onto her bed and going to her closet to get her pajamas out. She quickly changes into a long light blue night gown before walking back over to the bed to see Shadow curling up on his side of the bed. Maria climbs into bed, turning the light off by her bedside, and turning to face Shadow.

She pulls the small hedgehog to her chest, feeling him bury his nose to her chest, pressing his hands to her stomach and tucking his head under her neck. She makes sure the comforter does get pulled over Shadow's face before closing her eyes and relishing in his warmth.

* * *

Maria opens her eyes to the feeling of being in someone's arms. She looks up to see the blue hedgehog. She's in his arms and he's running through an open space, seemingly unaffected by the young blonde's weight. She wraps her arms around his neck to steady herself a bit. The blue hedgehog's green eyes lower to her and the corner of his mouth curls up in a smirk.

Maria opens her mouth, about to call him Shadow again, when she quickly reminds herself that he isn't her Shadow. He is an entirely different hedgehog than her Shadow. He's Sonic. Yes. That's him.

"Awake now, are we?" he asks, not bothered by her staring. He quirks up a blended blue eyebrow.

Maria nods, turning to look around. They are running through an open field. Maria immediately has to look away, they are moving so fast. The only other place to look that won't make her nauseous is at Sonic. "Yes," she says softly. "Where are we going?"

"Back to town," Sonic says. "Amy's got someplace she wants to take you, but first, I got to take you to meet someone. Think you're up for it?"

Maria nods again, looking down to see that the lab coat around her is buttoned as securely closed as it can get. But it's a lot more revealing than Maria is used to and even comfortable with. It reveals a lot of the center of her chest and is only long enough to reach her knees. She shivers, cold, wrapping her arms tighter around Sonic, trying to absorb his warmth.

"Maria?" Sonic asks, looking down at her confused. "Is something wrong?"

Maria smiles faintly. "I'm okay. Just a bit cold."

"Cold?" Sonic echoes. He takes a quick moment to notice her attire before turning his attention back to where he's running. "Oh, sorry. Wait just a bit longer, alright? If Rouge was telling the truth, we shouldn't be much further away."

Maria nods slowly, letting herself relax in Sonic's secure grip. She's still a bit tired, but she's also kind of excited as to where the blue hedgehog is taking her. Not just that, but she's never seen the things around her outside of books. If what she got a quick glance of a moment ago was a field, then that means that she is on Earth, just like she's always wanted. Just like she's been dreaming of for as long as she can remember.

Her, and Shadow.

For him to not be here, experiencing every single second of it with her just didn't feel right. This was their dream, it was something that the two of them could share. They would be able to explore the world together and see the wonderful place that they spent countless hours with Shadow watching from the space station in envy and love. She was a bit envious that everyone on Earth could spent each and every day, all day, admiring the world around them, while Maria could only watch from outer space.

But she also love them. People could do such wonderful things for the planet. Take care of it and it's creatures. It was just a shame that it couldn't always be like that for the people. Maria has ready enough books to know that not everyone cares as whole-heartedly about the planet as Maria does. But that's okay, everyone has the right to believe what they want and do what they want.

Maria closes her eyes and holds onto Sonic tightly. After a few more minutes of running, Sonic finally slows down to a full stop, lowering Maria down into the plush grass beneath her. Maria looks around at the wide open field, taking in the bright colors of the world around her. The lush green grass and leaves on the trees. The dark, solid brown of the wood on the bark of the trees. The yellow of the sunflowers and all the colors of the flowers growing randomly around the field. Maria just takes a moment to appreciate it all. The sights, the smells and even the feel of the grass beneath her.

"Wow!" Maria gasps, looking around the area, laughing when the wind moves her long blond hair. "Earth is... just so beautiful! It's so big and wonderful!"

Sonic looks down at her, not sure he understands her words. He tilts his head to the side. "What are you talking about, Maria?"

Maria looks up at Sonic, grinning brightly. "All my life I've wanted to see Earth and now that I'm here... it's just so wonderful!" She laughs. "Sorry, Sonic. I've spent all my life on the Space Colony ARK. I've always wanted to see what it's like. It's so pretty."

Sonic gets a dark look on his face. "So you really are that Maria..." He crosses his arms over his chest and leans heavily on one hip while tapping the free foot. He closes his eyes and nods his head slowly, appearing to be lost in thought.

Maria stares at him with a confused look. "What do you mean by that, Sonic?"

Sonic shakes his head. He straightens up his posture to look passed Maria to the row of trees beyond. Large green eyes stare at the tree line with an annoyed expression on his face, scanning the area. He tilts his head, one way than the other, than back to the original, before he straightens up completely and sighs, shaking his head.

"Shadow should be around here somewhere," Sonic says, looking down at Maria.

She blinks in confusion before a broad smile crosses her face and she turns her attention to the tree line, scanning it for the familiar black and red hedgehog. Shadow was around here? Then she didn't have to feel so bad about being here without him, because he's somewhere close by. Maria's excitement peaks at the prospect of seeing her best friend again. She's not sure how she got to Earth an she doesn't remember much other than fragmented memories of the past. She doesn't really know anything about what's going on, but all she can focus on is the fact that something familiar - or more specifically _someone _familiar - was nearby.

"Shadow?" Maria says softly, eyes wide, still looking around. "Are you certain? I... I don't see him. Are you sure he's around here?" Maria looks back up at Sonic.

Sonic closes his eyes, bends his elbows, palms facing the sky and shrugged. "I don't know. Man, this is all turning into such a pain." A pause, Sonic makes a noise of silent debate, before he sighs again and narrows his eyes. "Stay here, Maria. I'm going to go get him. Be right back." He breaks into a sprint toward the large, lush green trees, moving faster and faster until he becomes a blue blur. Maria watches him with extreme interest until he disappears into the forest.

Maria reaches up and tucks a stray strand of blond hair that's blowing in the... breeze. Yes, the word just came to her easily. Breeze, or wind. Maria remembers the words and what they mean, but she doesn't remember how she knew them. She knows this is the first time she's really felt it, so it's sort of a strange feeling, but the only thing that she can assume she learned this from was probably a book.

Try as she might, Maria can't summon up any memories. The things she knows... those just come to her, but if she tries to focus on them, they refuse to come. Maria can only assume that she's read up on Earth extensively. Maria isn't sure how she got here, but judging on the look on both Amy's and Tails's faces, it appeared as though they were... grim. Unhappy about something. Looking down at the buttoned up white lab coat, Maria can only assume it had something to do with her attire and how revealed she felt wearing it.

If there was anything that Maria would get from her dream, it was that she was pretty conservative. If the long blue dress and the long sleeve blue shirt was any indication of that. So, Maria can't fill in the blank spaces in her memory as of yet, but she hopes that such a conundrum isn't permanent. Thankfully not everything is gone.

Maria is pulled from her thoughts at the sound of something hard colliding with something else, equally as hard. Maria jumps at the sound and snaps her head up at it and watches at two blurs; one blue and the other yellow. They both fly through the air and slam into each other, again and again, moving faster than Maria's eyes could follow. She watches them for a long moment, not really understanding what was happening until a particularly hard hit from the yellow blur sent the blue blur soaring across the open field, hitting the ground hard and skidding toward Maria.

The long blond haired girl jumps in shock and swiftly climbs to her feet, running toward Sonic. He coughs a bit, winded, looking slightly disoriented. Maria stumbles a great deal of her way over to Sonic before dropping down over his body with hers to protect him.

"Please stop!" She yells at the swiftly advancing yellow blur. When it doesn't look like it's slowing down, she squeezes her eyes shut and curls up closer to Sonic.

"Maria?" Sonic gasps. "Move out of the way!"

Maria doesn't respond, just tenses up and wait for impact. After about a minute of silence without any pain, Maria slowly opens her eyes to see Sonic staring up at her with an unreadable look on his face. She peaks under her arm to see if the yellow blur was still approaching, but passed Sonic's red and white shoes is more shoes; these are primarily white with red trimming around the front of the shoe and on the top-most part around his ankles just above a yellow ring with black along the heals, and long pitch black legs.

The long blond haired girl uncoiled from around Sonic, getting more confident that the danger has passed. Once she's fully pulled away, she turns to look at the previous yellow blur to see a very, _very _familiar red and black hedgehog staring back at her.

First, he looks annoyed, even angry. Then he looks slightly confused, then really confused, until his face morphed into one of complete disbelief. He blinks rapidly, brain not accurately processing what his bright, crimson red eyes are seeing.

"That's a good look for you, Shadow," Sonic says smugly, sitting up. "A nice change from the perpetually smug look you usually have."

Shadow ignores him for favor of just staring at Maria in shock. His mouth, that has been hanging open slightly, finally manages to find his words. "M...Maria...?" His voice is low and light. Smooth and soft. In her mind, it's slightly familiar, but there is something a bit different about it. Maria can't put her finger on it. Perhaps it's the lower pitch? Or that his words are just filled with genuine disbelief.

Maria doesn't think about it. She just feels herself shoot, faster than she's moved in a while it feels like, and throws her arms around him. He stumbles back a bit from the force but manages to keep himself on his feet. On her knees, Shadow stands taller than her, allowing her arms to wrap around his shoulders and her forehead to press against his. His entire body goes rigid with shock.

"Shadow?" Maria whispers, pressing her forehead a bit harder against his, relishing in his familiar warmth. She squeezes her eyes shut to stop the steady build-up of tears in her eyes. It feels like a heavy weight has been lifted from her shoulders. "My Shadow? Is that you?"

"Maria..." Shadow whispers. A moment of hesitation before he presses his forehead back against hers, large white gloved hands reach up to slowly touch her side as if he's worried that by touching her too hard, she'll vanish. "Maria, how are you here?"

She shakes her head a little, managing to keep her forehead touching his. "I don't know, Shadow. I don't know. I am so lost, but... you're here! My Shadow, you're okay! I'm so happy!"

Shadow is the first to pull away. If Maria had the choice, they wouldn't separate again. He feels.. bigger in her arms. As if she expected that he shouldn't be as tall and as broad as he is now. The last time she held him... he must have grown. Some great deal of time must have passed since she last time she held him in her arms so that he could now be fully-grown. Just how much time has passed? How did she get here? What is going on?

"Maria," Shadow says slowly, pulling back to arms length to look Maria up and down, taking in her wild, long blond hair and her pale skin. Her lack of proper attire and the happy tears streaming down her face. He wipes the tears away with a thumb, studying her face closely, as if trying to find the most minute detail out of place.

"Well," Sonic says, standing up, "not that this isn't amusing or anything. But are you ready to go now, Maria? Amy should be waiting for us. If we keep her wait..." he shakes his head and sighs, "well, she won't let me live it down."

"Oh," Maria says, reaching up and wiping the tears away roughly with one hand. She lowers herself onto her legs, thighs tired from holding herself up. "Yes, we should go. I still have to thank Amy for everything that she did to help me." A pause, Maria shyly glances up at Shadow, who was still watching her closely. She suddenly feels nervous, she's got a strange feeling coming from him. Something is definitely different about him. "Won't you come too, Shadow...?" Somehow, the question sounded strange.

Shadow must have felt so too because a weird look crosses his face. "Where?"

"Station Square," Sonic says, shrugging his shoulders. "Amy has something for Maria, I think."

Shadow narrows his eyes at Sonic, sending the blue hedgehog a silent message with his eyes that Maria can't pick up. The two stare at one another, silently communicating before a haughty smile crosses Sonic's lips. "Well, if it's decided, then we should go, right Maria?" He doesn't break eye contact with Shadow.

"Right..." Maria murmurs, looking between the two, confused. "Shadow? Will you come with?" Maria really doesn't want to part with her best friend just yet.

"Yes," Shadow says, finally breaking eye contact to look down at Maria. "Let's go."

"Do you need me to carry you?" Sonic asks Maria. "It's still a ways to Station Square-"

"No," Shadow responds before Maria could even open her mouth. "I've got her. Just lead the way."

_For the Reviewers:_

_1\. Sentinel07: Thanks! So sorry for the wait!_

_2\. Maya1705: Thanks for the review! Sorry about the wait!_


	4. Amy's treat

**Author's Note: So sorry for the wait. I don't _super _love this chapter, but I guess it was just a way of getting to better know the characters. It'll start speeding up soon. Hopefully. I loved reading everyone's kind words, they really inspire me. Thanks! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

**Warnings: Nothing much, maybe a bit of language. OOC-ness.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

**Word Count: 6,248**

Shadow carried Maria just as easily as Sonic did. And like with Sonic, Maria couldn't look around while they were moving, unable to keep her stomach steady when watching everything around her move so fast, it was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Er, prior to when Sonic carried her just a few minutes before they arrived to meet with Maria's long lost friend, that is. Still, it was a lot to get used to in such a short time. Maria can't even begin to imagine how both Shadow and Sonic can move so fast, while at the same time being able to even tell where they were going.

Maria stares up at Shadow's determined, yet slightly perturbed face. It was like he was upset about something but whenever she asked him if he okay, if something was bothering him, he would quietly respond with a soft, "No, I'm fine, Maria," and then fall silent again. His face would smooth out as if to prove his words, but slowly, as the minutes pass, the look would return. Maria would then ask again, only to receive the same answer. After the fifth time, she didn't ask again.

A long time of silence followed with Maria just staring up at Shadow's face, surely making him slightly uncomfortable with the weight of her gaze but he bares it well until she finally asks, "It's so strange, huh, Shadow?" He doesn't respond, but he does look down at her in confusion, making a noise for her to explain. She smiles faintly, wrapping her arms tighter around her friend. "You used to be small enough to hold in my arms easily, now you can carry me." She laughs. "You always said you wanted to be stronger, Shadow, now look at you!"

Shadow looks at Maria for a long moment in silent contemplation before nodding once. "Yes, I am stronger."

Maria smiles, hugging her friend closer still. "It wasn't all that long since I woke up but even so, I missed you so much, Shadow. I'm so glad we can be together again." At her words, Shadow frowns a bit, but nods, turning his gaze back ahead. No matter how little she really remembered about him, when Maria saw that look, she somehow knew he was holding something back. Thinking about it very hard.

"Yeah," he finally says, sounding far away, as if lost in his thoughts. Maria remained quiet the entire rest of the way to Station Square. Sonic and Shadow fly through the city so quickly it's hard for Maria to get a good look at anything around her. But from what she can see, she's amazed at. She was born on the ARK but she read many books about Earth, but everything is so much more amazing to see in person as opposed to books and stories recounted to her by her grandfather and other people in the staff who weren't born on the ARK like she was.

There was so many people. Many more than Maria could count. She knew the names of everyone that worked and lived on the ARK. There is no way she can remember a planet's worth of people's names. Still, the thought that she is _finally here _on Earth, leaves her feeling warm and happy. The fact that Shadow is here along side her just makes it all so much better.

No doubt that Shadow has changed since that memory she has of him, but she's not upset at all in the slightest. In Maria's eyes, he was Shadow and that's all there is to that. He seems to have some sort of rivalry with Sonic, which is a little strange, because in her memory of Shadow, he seemed very respectful of those around him, perhaps it was because they were friends and it was friendly banter between them. Maria didn't know.

They finally slow down at the sight of the pink hedgehog standing in front of a store with a bunny in a orange dress and a chao baby with a bright red bow tie hovering next to her.

Sonic tilts his head at the sight of the bunny. "Cream, Cheese, you two are here too?"

Both nod. The bunny smiles brightly, walking up to Sonic and looking up at him. "Amy asked us to help out. Tails is on his way too." Her voice is soft and airy, much more younger sounding then the rest of them.

Sonic scratches his quills on the back of his head. "Why did you rope Tails into this, Amy? What are we even doing here?"

Amy pouts, putting her hands on her hips and walking closer to Sonic. "Come on now, Sonic, shopping is so much more fun when more people are involved! Besides, we have to pick the perfect outfit for Maria!" She nods, more for herself than the exasperated looking blue hedgehog in front of her, before looking over at the bunny. "Right?"

The bunny nods, looking passed Sonic to Shadow and Maria, who was still in his arms. "You must be Maria," she says, voice soft and squeaky. "Nice to meet you. I'm Cream and this is Cheese." The chao baby nods, floating by Cream's head. It waves little yellow hands happily.

Maria smiles brightly, not yet uncoiling from Shadow's hold, since he doesn't seem ready to let go yet. It's a warm day out and Shadow's dark fur is heating up quickly. It's nice against the cool wind.

"Nice to meet you two," Maria says to Cream. "Do you know Shadow?" She asks, looking between the bunny and chao baby and her black and red hedgehog friend.

Cream looks at Shadow shyly, nodding. "Hi Shadow. Are you doing okay?"

Shadow grunts, nodding once in affirmation before looking past her to the approaching pink hedgehog.

"Hi Maria! Great! You found Shadow for some strange reason," Maria says, then tilts her head to one side, surprised. "Why is that?" She glances over her shoulder at Sonic, but his back was to them. She pouted and looked back over at Maria and Shadow, eyebrows high.

"Shadow is my best friend," Maria says. "We grew up together." She wraps her arms tighter around Shadow a bit more, smiling up at him. Shadow's eyes are half lidded and soft, looking down at Maria.

Amy tilts her head to the side as if she didn't really understand, but nodded slowly before glancing behind them. "Oh! Tails! Over here!" She waves her arms around to catch the yellow fox's attention before continuing, "Now that everyone is here, let's get started! Come on, Maria!"

Finally, and somewhat reluctantly, Shadow tilts a bit so that Maria's feet can touch the ground and she can stand up. Maria does, sways a bit but Shadow is standing right there, accepting her weight for a moment until she can hold herself up and steady. Shadow was definitely a lot bigger than in her memory. The top of his head was almost mid-chest height on her. She shakes her head at the vast contrast and takes this next moment to look around and take in this unfamiliar place. Station Square, is what Sonic had called it. There was people everywhere, walking up and down the streets. Some slip into stores and some slip out.

All the buildings were high and had lots of windows that reflected the light from the sun. The wind ruffled long, bright colored clothes, so different from all the mute dark colors that she was used to living on the ARK and the only contrast of stark white of the labs and coats. There was so many different bright colors and different smells and noises that Maria was unaccustomed to. It's surreal. Everything was just so overwhelming in how different it was. Maria is so used to the sterile environment on the ARK that everything here on Earth just seems so fresh in comparison.

"Maria," Amy sings, reaching up and taking Maria's hand and pulling her toward the store. "Let's get you some better clothes! You can't walk around wearing that coat any longer." Maria nods in agreement, relieved that she won't have to keep wearing this uncomfortable white lab coat.

"I would like that," Maria says softly, following Amy into the shop. She listens to the soft ding of a bell, looking around curiously for what that was, but Amy is pulling her along, deeper inside. There was clothes everywhere. All different shapes and sizes, it was beyond anything Maria could have ever dreamed of. Nothing in her books could have ever prepared her for just how amazing it was in person. Her deepest desires of coming to Earth and seeing all of the beautiful things were being founded.

"Amy!" The woman behind the counter says brightly, beaming at the sight of the pink hedgehog.

"Hey, Tonya! We are having a fashion emergency!"

The brown haired young woman, looks passed Amy to Maria, eyebrow quirking up in curiosity. "Okay. Well, you came to the right place. Do you need any help, Amy?"

The pink hedgehog grins up at the woman, winking and wagging her right pointer finger around. "You know me, Tonya! I've got this all under control!" Tonya nods, grinning knowingly.

Then everything began working in a whirlwind. Amy and Cream were bouncing from clothes to clothes, pulling things out and tossing them over to Maria to try on. Maria was adamant about not wearing pants and not wearing skits or shorts that didn't go to her knees, at the least. Amy paid, right off the bat, for some undergarments for Maria, that the blond was grateful for and now she's just bouncing from one set of clothes to another. Amy is blabbering away about the importance of style; how some colors and designs go with what and how to mismatch different clothes.

It was a lot more than Maria could memorize, but thankfully near the end of her rant, Amy through in, "But don't worry too much, Maria, until you become an expert like me, I'll help you pick out your outfits" and then kept on talking, sifting through clothes.

"Which one do you like?" Cream asks, holding up two dresses. One that's red with green flowers on it but it has no sleeves. To Maria, it looks impossible to tell the top from the bottom. It looks like a tube to Maria. The other is light blue with dark blue swirls and black dots placed around the dress without any real pattern to it. This dress also has no sleeves, but a thick band that goes up and around the back of the neck. Similar to Amy's dress.

"I like the blue one," Maria says softly from where she sits between Tails and Shadow. They have couches next to the dressing rooms, Amy called them, that Maria has to sit at because she doesn't have the stamina to keep standing. "I don't like that my shoulders will show, though. I get cold easily..." Maria trails off.

Cream taps her chin in thought for a moment, before handing the dress to Maria. "I'll be right back, okay?" Maria nods, watching her disappear around the corner again.

"Amy and Cream are so kind," Maria says softly, feeling the silky softness of the fabric. It's still a little shorter than Maria would like.

"They are," Tails says, then looks down at the dress. "I like the colors on that one. Do you like the color blue, Maria?"

Maria nods. "I do. It's my third favorite color now."

"What's you're first?" Tails asks, looking over at Maria with big blue eyes. "And second, I suppose."

Maria laughs, cheeks dusting a bit in embarrassment. "Black and red." Shadow, who was sitting next to her with his arms crossed over his chest and his head tilted down with his eyes closed, tilts his head slightly when she started to speak and twitched when she acknowledged his colors as her favorites, left ear twitching slightly.

Sonic, who had a small couch all to himself was sprawled out on his back with one leg propped up and the other leg crossed over it, his arms folded behind his head and his eyes are closed, seemingly sleeping. He takes that moment to open his eyes and huff before closing them again. Cream returns again holding two black items and offers them to Maria.

"Amy approved," she says, then smiles, one long light and dark orange ear lays draped over her shoulder while the other is trailing around behind her. Maria takes the clothing and stands up, walking into the changing room and shutting the door behind her. They've picked out a lot of clothes, but Amy still insists that she'll need a "full, complete wardrobe".

Out of all the outfits that Maria has now, thanks to Amy and Cream, this one is by far her favorite. The blue dress went to just above her knees, which she didn't really like, and the top of the dress really emphasizes her nonexistent breasts, showing the bare minimum of cleavage. The extra clothing that Cream got for her was some skin tight black pants that went to the middle of her calves and a thin black coat that went around her shoulders. Amy called the white one she tried on earlier something else. Something about a car...? Car-a-gen? Maria couldn't remember.

After trial and error with the short pants, thinking first she had to tuck the dress into the pants, but seeing it become all bulgy and every crease being seen through the tight pants, she untucked it and thought it looked much nicer. She just hoped that it didn't look weird. And she liked being able to button up the jacket too, but it was too hot for that, so wearing it and covering her shoulders made her feel better. When she opened the door and peaked out, she blushed at the eyes peaking at her.

"Don't laugh, okay? I don't know if I'm wearing all of this right..." Maria says softly, still hiding behind the door.

"We won't laugh," Tails says, smiling kindly. Amy bounces up next to Cream and Cheese, tilting her head expectantly.

Maria steps out. She avoids their eyes and looks at the multicolored carpet, digging her big toe into it a bit. She lifts her eyes up slowly after no immediate reaction from the animals in front of her.

"So cute!" Amy says, jumping forward and grabbing Maria's hands and squeezing them. "I like this one a lot! Nice catch, Cream!"

Cream nods, beaming brightly. "I agree! I like it best too!" Cheese spins around happily, waving little yellow and blue arms around, making excited noises.

"I also like it, Maria!" Tails says, twin yellow and white tails wagging behind him.

Shadow opens his eyes and stares at Maria for a long time, intense red eyes looking her up and down. After the third or four time of looking her up and down, he stares at her feet. Then he looks back up into Maria's eyes. "You'll need shoes."

Amy jumps up. "I've got it!" she exclaims, then races around the corner. She pops her head back a moment later, "Hey, Maria?" she says, looking up at the blond with large green eyes.

"Yes?" Maria says, smoothing out the dress on her legs.

"What's your shoes size?" she asks innocently.

Maria tilts her head. "I... I guess I don't know." She looks down at her toes, wiggling them a bit, not sure how she would be able to tell what her shoe size is. All of her clothes and shoes were all provided to her. She never had so much choice or make so many decisions. It's a bit overwhelming. Or a lot. Yeah, definitely a lot. But it's nice having Amy and Cream there to help her. Sonic, Tails and Shadow too, but they didn't really have much to say. Especially Sonic and Shadow. But that was okay.

Just having her friend there was enough.

"Don't worry about it," Amy says, waving her hand around dismissively. "I'll find something." She disappears again around the corner.

Maria walks over to the couch and sits down again. She glances over at the red and black hedgehog next to her. "How does it look, Shadow?" she asks, smoothing out the dress a bit, eliminating any wrinkles.

"It..." Shadow says, looking over at her in the corner of his eye. "It is different from your usual attire, though not horrible."

"What a charmer," Sonic mumbles, not opening his eyes.

Tails rubs the back of his head, looking at his best friend and muttering his name under his breath while Shadow grunts and closes his eyes again, crossing his arms a bit more over his chest. Maria smiles at her friend, wrapping her arms around him and resting her cheek against the red spot on his forehead. Shadow tenses up a bit in her arms before relaxing and sighing again, as if this was all troublesome to him, but he says nothing and doesn't try and extract himself from her grip.

"Shadow was never very good with words," Maria says and immediately wonders if it's true. She only had one solid memory of her friend and gut feelings she was going off of. What did she really know about her supposed best friend? As much as Maria wished that she could just live in this world of infinite oblivion just taking everything in stride, but now that she's becoming more aware of herself, she's beginning to really worry about everything.

How did she get from the Space Colony ARK to Earth? How long had she been on Earth? Why was she and Shadow together on Earth like they were on the ARK? Why has Sonic been giving her these strange, calculating looks since they met? Why does Shadow seem unwilling to part from her side and touch her as if she will shatter into a million pieces if he applied too much force? Why did it seem like everyone was avoiding the elephant in the room?

This shopping trip, while helpful for Maria, seemed duo purposed as well. This didn't appear to be the sort of scene that Sonic would be interested in being in, considering he's spent a great portion of the time trying to sleep, while Tails would off-handedly throw out "I like that" and "That's pretty" but little else, while nothing in Maria's memory would suggest Shadow being even slightly interested in something like this. Cream and Amy are running around, picking out clothes as if their lives depended on it. Like they were trying to look past something.

Maria just had no idea what that was.

"But..." Maria says softly, suddenly realizing that she had been quiet for a long time, too long for a natural pause and long enough fro Sonic to open his eyes and stare at her. "But," Maria says again, looking down at Shadow's shoes, somewhat glad she can't see his face, worried about what look he may be wearing, "he's kind and thoughtful. And that's enough for me."

There was a strange silence that followed. It wasn't awkward... just strained. As if no one knew what to say. Cream tugged at the bottom of her orange dress, looking up at Cheese with large eyes, seemingly silently communicating with the chao baby. Tails was scratching the back of his head, looking at the door in front of him, while Sonic was staring at the side of Maria's face while she couldn't see Shadow's expression from where she was laying her cheek on the top of his head.

"Got it!" Amy calls, rounding the corner with a pair of simple black boots and some cute blue socks that match her dress. "Try these on." Amy lays them by Maria's feet. It's only then that she notices the strange atmosphere. She looks around, confused. "What's up?"

Maria uncurls from around Shadow to slip on the socks and boots, avoiding looking at her friend's face, still worried. The socks fit fine but the boots were a little large. Amy quickly ran back and got another pair of the same boot, just a "half size smaller" Amy said and winked. Those fit fine and, while a little strange, they felt comfortable.

Maria stands up and walks around in them. They were a little weird with their little heel, but she was able to get used to them easily enough.

Amy nods, seemingly pleased. "Okay, I think that should be enough for now," she decides. "Do you want to wear this outfit out, Maria?" Maria nods. "Okay then, I'll get all of this rang up, follow me up for a moment."

Maria obeys and Tonya pulls all the tags off all her clothes and shoes before Amy told her that she could go back and look at herself in the mirror. Maria does, and stands back by the boys, staring at herself in the full length mirror. She twists around, looking at her reflection closely. She liked the new outfit but a part of her kind of missed her old clothes. Those were cute too. Her eyes travel up to her long, wavy blond hair, reaching up and running her fingers through her hair. It was a little messy with a few knots mixed in.

While running her fingers through her hair, working out any and all knots the thin digits find, Maria kept staring at the top of her head, wondering why something didn't look right. But for the life of Maria, she couldn't recall what could be missing and eventually gave up and turned back to look over at the boys. Tails was looking at something on a large devise in his hand while Sonic and Shadow remain unmoving from their spots on their respective couches while Cream and Cheese stand in front of the mirror on the opposite side of the little room with the changing stalls making faces at each other in their reflections.

"Where do we go after this?" Maria asks suddenly, folding her hands neatly in front of her lap. "I've never been to Earth before. Who do I stay with?"

Tails looks up from his devise. "With us, of course. We'll have to ask Chris, but surely he'll say that it's fine. We live in a really nice place with lots of room, so I'm sure it'll be fine."

Maria turns her head to the side. "Chris? Who's that?"

"He's a friend of ours. He's really nice, so don't worry," Tails says, smiling.

"Don't forget, if we have Maria stay with us, we also have to deal with Shadow," Sonic says, opening his eyes. "So, what do you say, Shadow? Thinking about sticking around? If Maria really is sick, she's going to need the Thorndyke's. They are the only ones that can help us here. They'll know how to get the right doctors for her and what to do about treatment."

Tails nods, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah, if Maria truly has NIDS then she is going to need a doctor on hand that will be able to help her at a moment's notice. I may not know a lot about NIDS, or diseases in general, but what I do know is that if she really is the Maria from the ARK, then she has an old strain of NIDS. We'll need an expert on NIDS to help look after her."

Maria's eyebrows pull together. She's not a hundred percent sure she understands what they are saying, but once again, the gut feeling she has is that they're right. Maria doesn't feel sick, but that doesn't mean that she's not. She knows that she's sensitive to the cold. And something about the name NIDS just... rings true in her mind. Whatever it really is, she must have it. Maria doesn't like not knowing anything.

"I don't want to inconvenience everyone any more than I already have..." Maria says softly, wrapping her arms around herself.

Sonic sits up and winks, giving her a thumbs up. "Don't you worry about a thing, Maria. You're the victim here. You just let us take care of you, okay? Besides, Chris is a buddy of ours. Tails is right, he'll definitely help us out."

"Chris is nice like that," Cream says, reaching out and grabbing Cheese, holding the small chao baby to her chest. Cheese makes a noise in agreement, nodding.

"All done," Amy says, bouncing over to them with arms full of shopping bags. "Alright, we're ready to go. What should we do next? Go out and eat?"

At that moment, Maria's stomach decided to growl really loud. She had been hungry for a while, she noticed, but it was the type of hungry where she hadn't eaten in so long that she wasn't hungry anymore, at least in the minutes prior to this moment. Now that food has been mentioned, her stomach is ready to be filled. Maria blushes and wraps her arms around her stomach.

"I'm sorry," Maria murmurs softly, looking away in embarrassment.

"Don't be," Sonic says, shrugging his shoulders. "It's all natural. Come on, if we're done. Let's eat. What're you hungry for, Maria?"

Even though the question was directed to Maria, it's Shadow that answers, "She won't be able to tell you," he says simply, opening his eyes and jumping up, wiggling his legs a bit, as if to wake them up. "On the ARK, our food was prepared for us without much choice. It won't matter if it's healthy or not, Maria won't have any of the medicine that is usually put in her food." He sighs, shaking his head and walking toward Maria.

"Then it's our choice," Sonic says simply, shrugging his shoulders. Then, he looks at the blond, "Do you mind, Maria?"

Dropping her hands to her side, Maria shakes her head. "Not at all. I'm not picky." She looks down at Shadow, who stops right next to her. "What about you, Shadow? Are you hungry for anything in specific?"

He shakes his head. "No, but you need to eat something good."

Maria nods, reaching out and running her fingers over the soft quills on the back of his head. Shadow looks up at her with large crimson eyes, but doesn't comment on the treatment.

"Alright, let's go look around, okay?" Amy says, grinning broadly. "Let's go!"

"Amy," Maria says, walking over and holding out a hand. "I'll take those. They're for me, anyway."

Amy shakes her head, smiling brightly up at Maria. "It's alright. I've got it."

Maria shifts uncomfortably. "No, really, it's okay. I feel bad. You went through all the trouble of getting me all these new, nice things. I should at the very least carry my own things. Please, Amy, I feel so bad for making you guys do all of this for me... someone you hardly know."

Amy wiggles a finger at Maria. "Nonsense. I did this because I wanted to. We all did this because we want to be friends. What better way to do that then doing nice things for each other. So, how about we take this as an agreement to be friends. Okay?"

Maria knees down and wraps her arms around Amy tightly. She hears Amy lower the bags to the floor before wrapping her arms around Maria as well. Amy smelled really nice to Maria. She smelled like strawberries and some kind of other really nice fragrance mixed in to it. Amy's quills on her head were really soft too, and her hugs were really nice. It's at that moment that Maria began to think about whether she's ever been this close to a girl. She knew that there was a lot of female scientists that worked on the ARK, but all Maria kept thinking about while hugging Amy was that the pink hedgehog was so soft. She was so small and different than what she was used to.

She remembers hugging her grandfather, and hugging Shadow, was both very different than hugging Amy. But it wasn't bad.

Amy hugs her back tightly, laughing pleased and petting Maria's slightly messed up hair. "Aw, this is sweet, Maria."

"Thank you, Amy. I really don't know what I did to deserve this nice treatment, but I am so thankful to have met you guys. Thank you so much. All of you," Maria says, pulling back and looking over at all the other people in the room. "I don't know how to thank you enough."

Amy hugs back, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it, Maria. Come on, I'm starved. If you really want to carry one of these, then this one. It's really light."

Maria laughs lightly, pulling back and looking into Amy's large green eyes. "I'm not so delicate, Amy. I can hold some things."

Maria pulls back, pushing herself up to her feet. She picks up some of the bags, despite Amy's protest and looks over at Sonic. "Are we going to go now?"

Sonic nods, grinning. He pushes himself to his feet, reaching his arms above his head to stretch. He glances over at Tails and winks, giving the yellow fox a thumbs up. "How about you, Tails? Are you up for getting something to eat?"

Tails nods, putting the device he was tinkering with into the little backpack he has on his back. "Sure thing, Sonic. I am getting pretty hungry myself."

Sonic looks around at all the people in the room. "Alright," he says, hands dropping to his side. "Let's get going."

* * *

Cream and Cheese were the ones that decided were they were going to eat - with a little coaching from Amy and Sonic so it was not their initial choice: the ice cream shop - and everyone settled around a large table. Maria spent a great deal of time looking around the room. The restaurant wasn't too large, it had maybe fifty tables around the middle of the room with about twenty booths lining the walls. There wasn't many people in the store and the woman who was helping them, a waitress name Sam, was looking between them excitedly, talking quickly and smiling so brightly it looked like her face may split in two.

Maria thoughts it was kind of cute. She must have really liked Sonic and his friends. Maria could understand that, she liked Sonic and all of his friends too. It was so hard not to come to like them.

Maria glances over at Shadow, who was sitting in the chair to Maria's right. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was eyeing the room mistrustfully. Large, narrowed crimson eyes sweep the area back and forth as if waiting for something bad to suddenly happen. Maria also didn't miss that he steered her toward two chairs that were close to each other and close to the door.

She doesn't have a lot of memories of her friend, but something in her gut is telling her that this is strange, unusual behavior. As soon as Maria thought that, a memory surfaced.

Maria had opened her eyes feeling like she was dying. There was a mask on her face, helping her breath and wires on her chest. There is some tubes in her arms that make it hard for her to move about. Everything hurts, yet somehow her vision is clear. It's painful to even turn her head to the side to look out the observation window at the person she knows is there.

But she does, and as if he instinctually knows when she's awake, Shadow is at the window, white gloved hands pressed flush against the window separating them. His large crimson eyes are looking in at her, a crease forming between the twin orbs. He reaches down with one of his hands and presses the button on the intercom so that he can talk to her and she can hear.

"Maria, how are you feeling?" He asks softly.

Maria feels herself blinking slowly, almost dazedly. She can see fine, but her eyelids feel heavy. "'M okay..." she slurs softly, slowly reaching out with her own hand to lightly touch the cool window with the tips of her fingers. Even with all of the heating blankets on her, she shivers. But she doesn't pull her head back under the covers. She wants to be with her friend. Shadow would be able to keep her warm, better than any of these blankets could.

Her hand weakly forms a thumbs up and tried, in vain, to smile. Shadow looks a bit pained by that but forces himself to be strong and smile back faintly. Maria feels love swell up in her chest. This was her best friend. She was usually never found without him. People often asked her things about Shadow because she knew him so well.

With the tips of her fingers, she draws a heart on the window. Shadow's eyes follow the motion before he smiles a little brighter and presses his forehead against the glass, looking in at her, placing his hand tighter against the window.

"I'll save you, Maria," Shadow says surely. "I promise you. I will do anything for you. Just hold on a little longer, okay? Just a little bit longer."

Maria nods, smiling brighter before having to pull her hand back under the covers as she feels herself being pulled back into slumber.

Maria blinks out of her memory to Tails, who was on Maria's left, putting a hand on her arm.

"Tails?" Maria says softly. "What is it?"

"You should look at the menu, Maria, before the waitress comes back. Find something that sounds good," he says, looking up at her with large blue eyes. "I'll help you if you want."

Maria nods. "Thanks Tails, but one moment. I want to tell Shadow something before I forget." The yellow fox nods, looking down at the menu in his hands as Maria turns to Shadow, who, probably because he was listening in, was already staring back at her. "I just remembered something," Maria says, leaning close and wrapping her arms around the black and red hedgehog next to her, resting her cheek by his right ear, speaking softly into it. "I was lying in bed with a breathing mask and lots of wires attached to me. You were in the room next to me, with your hands against the window that separated us. Do you remember that?"

There is a long moment of silence, listening to the sound of the others talking and joking around the table, too caught up in their own conversations to listen in on Maria and Shadow's. After another moment, Shadow uncrosses his arms and puts one of his hands on the arm that Maria has wrapped around the front of his body, one of his ears twitching a bit.

"Maria," he says softly, "there have been too many of those moments to know which one you are referring too."

"You told me to hold on just a little bit longer. That you would save me," Maria says, trying not to let the frown forming on her lips show in her voice. Each little bit of memory coming back to her was special. It was getting her closer and closer to remembering everything about herself. Shadow was the only one there, that she remembered, that would know about her past. Him being unable to recall the memories too, was a bit disappointing to Maria, but she couldn't let Shadow know that.

"Ah," Shadow says. "Perhaps I know what time you are referring to. Was it when you made a heart on the window?"

Maria sighs in relief. "Yes, oh you remembered, Shadow."

Shadow nods, pulling back a bit so that he could look up at Maria. She obliges, putting some space between them, pulling her arms back to her lap. Shadow looks up at her with intense red eyes.

"Yes, I do remember. Keep telling me, Maria. Whenever you remember. Together, we can both pick up the pieces," he says.

Maria tilts her head. "What do you mean, Shadow?"

He shakes his head, closing his eyes at the motion. He opens them again when he stops and says softly, "It doesn't matter now, Maria. Get some food in you, get a good night's rest. We'll talk more once you've acclimated to Earth. Until then, perhaps we should both enjoy this time."

Maria hums in agreement, deciding that her friend, who appears to have been on Earth longer than she, would know better. She turns back to Tails to get his pre-offered help, when, on a whim, she glanced back over at Shadow, quick enough to see the dark, uneasy look flicker across his face before he looked down at his own menu, uninterested.

_For the Reviewers:_

_1\. Sentinel07: Thank you. ^.^_

_2\. John: Okay, well, I tried. I'm not sure how to slow down any more. XD I keep trying to work on it. Thanks!_

_3\. suicuneluvr: Thank you very much! ^.^_

_4\. scottusa1: Thank you!_

_5\. Princess Airdesia: Thanks!_

_6\. ArtificialRangerLiuria: Thank you so much. No, I have something... kinda interesting planned. I know, there's hardly a plot right now, but I trying to finish Sonic X and it's taking a while. -.-' Sorry. Yes, I am sorry about the tense confusion. I will try and be more alert about that. Thanks again!_

_7\. geminidragon76: Yes, there will be more. I have no plans of stopping this story, it's just kind of slow going. But everyone's kind words have really pushed me along, so thank you! :)_


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